The God Who Stays by Matthew West

Author:Matthew West
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2022-06-13T00:00:00+00:00

A Different Kind of ROI

I can still get so overwhelmed about how much need there is in the world. I don’t know about you, but it can make me feel a little helpless and distant. I often get busy managing my own little space and focusing on tours and bills and recording sessions, and I forget what it looks like to truly make a difference. What God teaches me over and over is that His command to love one another isn’t super complicated. In The Message version of Matthew 10, the chapter ends with Jesus challenging His listeners: “This is a large work I’ve called you into, but don’t be overwhelmed by it. It’s best to start small. Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, for instance” (vv. 41–42). It can be as simple as when my wife, Emily, arranges a dinner to be delivered to a family in need. When I make time to go and pray with a friend. It can be like my Cincinnati friends skipping a Saturday at the ball field to go to church and make food packets for Haiti. Or it can be simply sitting in the presence of the people who need you. You don’t have to travel to Haiti or Africa or El Salvador to do God’s work. Caring for people in need usually starts with small, faithful acts of love. That is when the “withness” of God gets real. Those are blue couch experiences; they are truly the greatest hits.

And that is just the thing about the blue couch moments when you experience God’s love. Those moments foster a beautiful responsibility. They reorient your life so that you don’t get so wrapped up in the business side of life that you forget the kingdom business. James 2:15–17 says, “Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” Unless we are willing to do the work, to love one another, our faith is dead and useless. What I am learning is that the blue couch is more than an experience; it is a calling. God’s love and grace that He gives freely through that blue couch experience brings with it a beautiful cost. You see, the kingdom of God has a much different take on ROI (return on investment) than we do. That beautiful cost to you is a sacrifice that will transform you from the inside out and help you focus on life’s eternal greatest hits.

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